Me Too You

My #Best09...Inspired by @GwenBell - Best Project, Best Startup, Best Web Tool, Best Learning Experience, Best Gift

Continuing @GwenBell 's #best09 Blog Challenge...

Read all of my #best09 here.

December 21 - Best Project

End of school year memory book projects

 

A project I started this year that I am proud of is the culmination/end of school year project for Ben, Lily and Ava. This is a project that we do at Explorer Preschool for the kids - it is meant to be a gift for them and a symbol or record of their year. I struggled with it my first year at the school...in fact, I didn't do the project. I was just sort of...stuck. I wasn't sure what to do, I was overwhelmed with work at the time and I struggled with the twin thing - if I do X for Lily, I have to do X for Ben, but then it must be unique too...

In May of 2009, I figured it out and was really happy with my result. I used the kids' scanned in artwork from the year and made a collage out of it. Basically, a digital scrapbook page, with the collaged art work, their school photo and phrases that trigger memories from the year. It is a project I will keep going for each year of their schooling and I plan to make a book for each of the kids to keep all of the years' projects in. More about the project here.

December 22 - Best Startup

Clever Girls Collective

I have helped quite a few startups on the legal front, but Clever Girls Collective is my favorite of the year. The three founders of the company, Stefania Pomponi Butler, Cat Lincoln and Sheila Bernus Dowd - AKA "the Clever Girls" - have got it going on. They are all truly amazing women - so good at what they do, incredibly connected and just "good people." I loved working with them as they kicked off their company last Spring and can't wait to see what happens.

Disclosure: I hold a small ownership stake in Clever Girls.

December 23 - Best Web Tool

Evernote

I started using Evernote at the beginning of the year and can't believe I just discovered it. When I first started using it, it was mainly a to-do list, because that is what seemed easiest to type up. After all, I do have a never-ending to-do list and I try all the time to GTD (Get Things Done) by getting it all out of my head and onto paper. But I quickly figured out that it can capture so much more. I take all of my meeting notes in it, I have my "life list" housed there, I take notes on wines I like, I manage my recipes and Christmas gift list. It is easy to tag and sort your notes. It ever searches handwritten notes, not that I do much of that. I KNOW there is so much more that I can do with Evernote, like scanning my kids' art to it or saving tweets I like, or 100 other ideas. Having an associated Evernote iPhone app, a desktop app and a web app makes it so that I can get to my stuff from anywhere (ah, I love the cloud).

December 24 - Best Learning Experience

Kindergarten

This year, as Ben and Lily started kindergarten, I did too. Just when you have preschool down, it is time to switch it up and move on to a whole new thing. And a whole new thing it is. Kindergarten these days is not the kindergarten I went to - no longer is there (much) play. It is highly structured and academic (at least where my kids attend). And we are not in a competitive private school, we bike or scooter or walk (or drive...sometimes...ok, quite a lot lately) to our neighborhood public school. It is still more pressure and more homework that I anticipated. They ARE learning a lot and so am I.

Things I have learned so far in kindergarten

• The neighborhood community can be amazing - we have used it, given back to it, become a part of it. At the beginning of the year, one kinder mom threw a little playdate party at her house, I had a holiday party, another mom is talking about a Valentine's party...traditions can be born quickly. Park days on Wednesdays? Love them.
• As a twin parent with kids in two separate classes, I CAN ask the teacher to have birthday cake in one class (or otherwise make certain accomodations to make things a bit easier for me as the parent). They might say no, but I'll never know if I don't ask.
• Someday I WILL miss the early pickup time on a Wednesday. It's ok...see the neighborhood community note above. (I haven't missed yet, but I'm sure I will!)
• One of the best things we did was not to have a ton after school activities going on when the kids started kindergarten. We have all-day kindergarten (8-2), and that is a long day for them. I went to a talk last spring about not overscheduling and overstressing kids and the speaker noted that kids (until adolescence) should have HALF of their time for unscheduled, free play time. This is pretty far from the norm these days. We are starting one day of an after school science class in January, but that's all we have done for the past 9 months or so. School and play time is enough. t is tempting to do swimming and soccer and dance and this and that, but really...it is not good for them to have TOO much to do. Kids need to know how to figure out what to do when they are bored. And they need some down time. They are FIVE!
• Anything I do in my kids' classes (or at my kids school, even if I can't always volunteer in the classroom) will amaze them and help them learn. For instance, I am Ben and Lily's "Art Teacher" once a month. Although I am no great artist, I think the are in awe of this. And it is super fun and something I think we will all remember for years to come.
• A love of learning really starts and ends at home. I can't expect schools to do everything I want them to. Parents are their kids' first teacher after all.
• Patterns are math concepts. I had no idea! I'm sure my limited knowledge of the world will soon be surpassed by my smart kids...

December 25 - Best Gift

Our Christmas Puppy

 

The best gift this year was was the one Lily wrote to Santa to ask for - a puppy (I wrote about the gift on SV Moms). She is quickly becoming part of our family. Lily keeps asking if we really get to keep her and I keep saying (sometimes to my surprise)...yes!

A Byte Out of Life: The Pitfalls of Kids and Technology

Silicon Valley Moms Group's A Byte Out of Life next video is available - and this is the one I am in! Myrna from Tangerine Times, Sheila Dowd from Xiaolinmama and I discuss the pitfalls of kids and technology. I know it is JUST the beginning of this discussion, as my kids are getting to the age where they are interested in using technology, playing on my iPhone, their computer, their camera, the Wii... what's next?

My new book: Virtual Incorporation

After a year in the making, my co-authors, Julie Tower-Pierce and Paul Gilles, and I are so excited to announce t he rel ease of our book Virtual Incorporation: A Lawyer's Guide to the Formation of Virtual Corporations. It is published by the American Bar Association and is available for pre-order now. This was so much fun to write and I can't wait to see where the discussion leads.

Fun with the Girls at the Silicon Valley Moms Group/Yahoo Video Shoot

Vblogging, it is all the rage, don't you know?

I haven't done much of it (yet...), but today I got together with a few of the moms from Silicon Valley Moms Group to shoot the new series of episodes sponsored by Yahoo! and shot by The Go To Mom and her awesome crew that will be aired in a few weeks, featuring moms talking about different issues. Some will be very funny, some will have constructive advice, some will raise awareness about issues. I am pretty excited about it.

Here's a photo, taken by Jill Asher, co-founder of Silicon Valley Moms Group, of Myrna and Sheila, my cohorts in our video shoot today on Children and Technology. (We were all tweeting the shoot...one of the episodes is on Twitter, by the way, featuring @janemaynard and @techmama.) The garden setting, the cozy atmosphere, the professional crew, the munchies - it was all good.

I was a little bummed to have to leave right when my twin mom friends Akemi and Linda (from @geminicrickets) and Bonggamom showed up to shoot an episode about Twins: Separate or Together for School. It would have been fun to hang out with them and hear what they had to say. Oh well, I will need to plan better next time for more babysitter time...

Ava learns to pedal

Make a Smilebox postcard

Ava, being just over 2 and a half years old, finds everything frustrating and wants to do it All By My Self. Thank goodness she has finally mastered pedaling her tricycle. Ah, sweet success!

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By the way, this is my first video using my new Flip camera. Looooove it! Super easy. More to come later - we had fun trying it out while wielding saws at the Crest Ranch Christmas tree farm today...not sure how it all came out yet, but I'm sure there is SOMEthing there.

And, yes, I do realize the video is in here twice. I am playing around with how best to load video onto my blog. Which do you prefer - embedded video via YouTube? Smilebox? Smilebox has a bunch of cute scrapbooky-type displays, which I may use for more combinations of video and still photos. Then there is OneTrueMedia - I need to play around with that a bit more. But I like the simple embed of YouTube. There is also Viddler, which I haven't tried yet. Anyway, insights are welcome!

Girls Night Out with HP

Ahhh....after a long day with all this...stuff - work, kids, school, laundry, dishes, email - I LOVE being able to leave at 6pm (the hour is key, because I get out of making dinner, my most hated mom-chore, mostly because I suck as a cook) to go out with the girls. I actually, luckily, get to do this a lot. First, there are my long time BK (before kids) friends - friends from college and law school and work. We try to get together when we can without the kids so that we can...you know, finish a conversation. And being on the board of Gemini Crickets (my twins club) and on the board of the kids' preschool means there are many "meetings." Yes, there are agendas and we actually do real work, but we do it, well, how to say this...with...wine. Sometimes quite a lot of it. I have made some of my best friends through these moms groups. Then there is Silicon Valey Moms Blog and the various events that go along with that. More photos being taken and products being examined (as in "I'm totally blogging this"), but, really, these ladies are a hoot. 

Yes, my kids know my "meeting shoes" very well. If the "meeting earrings" go on in addition, they know they'd better not stay up late! So a week or so ago, when HP threw a "Girls Night Out" party for Silicon Valley Moms Blog and other local bloggers, my friend Linda and I said "yes, please." We were also able to invite some other friends, Carla (by the way, that's my Lily on Carla's BabyJIDesign website's front page! Isn't she cute?!) and Melisa.

Checking in at the University Club in Palo Alto at 6:30pm, we were handed a glass of wine from Parducci Wine Cellars, (Hold on...I'm getting inspired. Let me grab a glass. Ok, I'm back.) grabbed a chicken skewer from a passed plate and were off! The theme of the night was Gift Giving. With the state of the economy, I know I am looking at all the ways I can save money and making my own gifts for friends is a great idea. The girls and I sipped wine and ate finger foods all evening, while decorating Cookie in a Jars (here are some sample recipe cards - you can do Hot Cocoa or Bath Salts in a Jars too) and cute photo paperweights. I was able to take some supplies home, because I am one of those people who like to have everything in front of me before I start creating...no really, I was just drinking too much wine and couldn't think anymore. Good thing there are lots of links to the stuff we did: here and here and here. We were able to take home some HP brochure and flyer paper too, so I can print out some more supplies. Linda was really in her element. She worked those tables like her best marathon scrappin' parties she used to hold...before we all went digital.

One of the best parts of the evening was the intimate performance for us girls by singer/songwriter Dana Parish. She is an up and coming star and it was a real treat to listen to her and to meet her. She really reminds me of Sarah McLachlan, who I have been a fan of forever. Dana Parish's album "Uncrushed" is on iTunes and is coming out this Tuesday, October 28. I love her song "Hung Up" and the one about fathers and daughters "She Laughed" made all us mommies well up and, actually, miss our littles ones for a brief moments during our night out. So sweet. She was just on Good Morning America too! Dana is now my friend on Facebook and I'm hoping to convince her to join Twitter too. Feel free to bug her about that...

Until the next Girls Night Out...it was a nice break. Thanks HP!

A kids computer

Last week we visited the new Cambrian branch library in San Jose. The kids area is really great. There are plenty of great chairs and reading areas. Lots of books displayed in different ways for the kids to easily access. A staircase with beautifully designed bugs and fruits that the kids love to look at. A play area tunnel for the little ones to twirl brightly colored pegs and a funny mirror. An internet cafe (oh, right, that's for me!). The kids quickly discovered a pair of computers with kids games loaded on them. They made themselves comfortable and before you could say "apple" they were double clicking their way around and typing their letters and numbers. We have known for a while of their jealousy of our computers, but who knew that once in their hands they could be so adept?

Inspired, we bought a used iMac off of Craigslist for about $300. Outfitted with a cute Crayola kids keyboard and mouse that glows different colors and has an aquarium feature in it (wowie), it is just right for the kids. One trip to IKEA and we were set with a computer desk and chair for under $70. A total of $400 later (well, maybe $420 since we have bought one Sesame Street game so far) and those kids are clicking and typing the keys. Lily especially knows her way around a mouse - being able to click on the Elmo to start the game and navigate her way to exactly which part of the game she likes to do. Lily likes to mow the lawn with Elmo, Ben loves to "color," Ava...well, she likes to pound the keys on whatever happens to be up at the time (Peek-A-Boo Elmo!).

In this entry to computer-heaven with the kids, we're going to stick with this Sesame Street game and maybe check out some free websites with games, like Curious George, Nick Jr shows that we like such as Backyardigans, Dora and Diego, and Fisher Price. I've been looking at a Jump Start as well - we have some workbooks made by the same company that we go from the Scholastic Book Club. I know once I step into an Apple store, I will be tempted by all kinds of cool games, but we'll try to show restraint. Its a slippery slope to the online world, after all, and we don't want to go *too* fast there with the kids. For now, let's mow the lawn kids!